Today marks the 30th anniversary of the death of reggae icon Bob Marley. The Jamaican singer-songwriter fused ska, rock steady, and reggae forms into an electrifying rock-influenced hybrid that made him an international superstar. Marley’s world view was influenced by the racial, cultural, and class divisions that he witnessed as a child in rural Nine Miles, as Britannica states:

Bob Marley, 1978. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Marley—whose parents were Norval Sinclair Marley, a white rural overseer, and the former Cedella Malcolm, the black daughter of a local custos (respected backwoods squire)—would forever remain the unique product of parallel worlds. His poetic worldview was shaped by the countryside, his music by the tough West Kingston ghetto streets. Marley’s maternal grandfather was not just a prosperous farmer but also a bush doctor adept at the mysticism-steeped herbal healing that guaranteed respect in Jamaica’s remote hill country. As a child Marley was known for his shy aloofness, his startling stare, and his penchant for palm reading. Virtually kidnapped by his absentee father (who had been disinherited by his own prominent family for marrying a black woman), the preadolescent Marley was taken to live with an elderly woman in Kingston until a family friend rediscovered the boy by chance and returned him to Nine Miles.

These factors, combined with a love of early American rhythm and blues, inspired Marley to try his hand at songwriting. He scored some early successes as a solo artist, and he began an association with Chris Blackwell’s Island Records label that would prove to be extremely fruitful for both parties. Marley is perhaps best known for his work with the Wailers (so named, Marley claimed, because “We started out crying”), a band that included Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, both performers who would become a reggae icons in their own right. Unlike other Jamaican acts at the time, who were producing tourist-friendly calypso music, the Wailers were emphatically political. The group’s first big hit, “Simmer Down,” was an anthem for the underclass, and it immediately brought the plight of the West Indian slums into the mainstream, as Britannica relates:

This bold stance transformed both Marley and his island nation, engendering the urban poor with a pride that would become a pronounced source of identity (and a catalyst for class-related tension) in Jamaican culture—as would the Wailers’ Rastafarian faith, a creed popular among the impoverished people of the Caribbean, who worshiped the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I as the African redeemer foretold in popular quasi-biblical prophecy.

Bob Marley, c. 1976; Jeff Albertson/Corbis

As Marley’s fame grew, the original Wailers drifted apart, with Tosh and Wailer embarking on solo careers in 1974. That year, Eric Clapton scored a hit with his cover of the Wailers’ “I Shot the Sheriff,” and the 1970s would prove to be an especially fruitful period for Marley. His string of hit singles included “No Woman No Cry,” “Exodus,” “Three Little Birds,” “Coming in from the Cold,” “Jamming,” and “Redemption Song,” and he was recognized as a force for social change both in Jamaica and abroad, as Britannica reports:

He also loomed large as a political figure and in 1976 survived what was believed to have been a politically motivated assassination attempt. Marley’s attempt to broker a truce between Jamaica’s warring political factions led in April 1978 to his headlining the “One Love” peace concert. His sociopolitical clout also earned him an invitation to perform in 1980 at the ceremonies celebrating majority rule and internationally recognized independence for Zimbabwe. In April 1981, the Jamaican government awarded Marley the Order of Merit. A month later he died of cancer.

Bob Marley, 1979; Chris Walter—WireImage/Getty Images

Marley’s death at age 36 cut short the career of Jamaica’s most prominent musician, but it did certainly did not hinder his popularity. The posthumous greatest hits collection Legend remains the best selling reggae album of all time, and Marley’s dreadlocks continue to adorn university dormitory rooms worldwide.